Top Chef: New Orleans – Ep 8 – I Think Something Bad Happened To Babe

I hope you don’t have a problem with dead animal carcasses, because if you do, this is not the Top Chef episode for you. Avert your eyes, vegetarians, vegans and veggiesauruses. We have some pork.

I’ll get to the Dr. John Quickfire in a few, but let’s talk about that pig. Out comes a big ole dead pig and for those of us who do not want to know where bacon comes from – blissful ignorance tastes a lot better at the breakfast table – this is the time to turn away. Because we also forget what these chefs are able to do – butchering. The elimination challenge was to take apart this pig and have the chefs serve a dish from the animal. The catch – all of the animal must be used. This is a boucherie – the consuming of the entire beast. Of course, I also think this is a Klingon tradition that I once saw Worf teach his son, Alexander. But we’ll go with the boucherie thing.

The chefs went to town on the 300-lb. pig. The most disturbing part? Watching Cap, Nick and Justin just twist off the head. Whoa. And then have BB and Nick “decide to split the head down the center” because she thinks brains make a good ragout. Excuse me for a minute…

…ok, I’m back. We won’t talk of that again.

The important things to know during prep – Justin and Carlos are both making tacos. Bad idea, Justin. Louis is putting popcorn in his dish. Um…ok. Cap is choosing to buy his ramen noodles rather than make them. The 20-year-old me who created a ramen/tuna dish back in the day approves of this choice.

The chefs arrive at the outdoor cooking location and Justin gets all mama grizzly on his grill. I think part of it may be the cool Spaceballs: The flamethrower he gets to play with. Cmar freaks out, again, about an alligator on the loose. She thinks it may eat her face. I think it looked sleepy. Cap is making a Cay-asian dish. BB is going sweet and sticky. Justin is on fire. Uh oh.